...When All is Said and Dunn

Well the new school year has begun and it only took two weeks before the madness that usually accompanies it reared its ugly head and was screaming in my face. I thought that maybe I would hold back a couple of weeks before I wrote about it so all the demons would surface. It would also give La Rosa School in Temple City a chance to catch up with everybody else. This week I will focus on the first, of what I am sure will be many, thorns in my paw.

That little bit of insanity at La Rosa is not having a huge impact on our lives this year, as my youngest no longer goes there. That is unless he comes down with some bizarre spore-related disease or starts growing a third arm out of the middle of his forehead. I'll keep my eye on him and let you know if I see any abnormalities forming.

All I know is that I had heard about this problem last year and was sent a letter by the school district basically telling me that it was a minor problem that had been addressed and corrected. With all the hoopla that's been going down lately I would have to say to the person who sent me that letter that I think you were misinformed. I'm no expert, but obviously the school district and the school board did not “inspect what they expect” as the saying goes. Otherwise the school would have opened on time if they had.

I will leave that battle to be fought by the La Rosa parents and the school board. And while my problems with the school year this far don't warrant news coverage on ABC Channel 7 they are, for most of us parents, the things that start and end our days on a frustrating note.

This year my 9-year-old son Alex started the 4th grade, which in my area means he switched schools. He is now going to Cloverly School in Temple City. For the last 3 years while attending La Rosa School he has been carrying a backpack. We were on vacation during what they call “Round Up,” those glorious 2 days when the secret of who your teacher will be is revealed as though it was the Oscars. It is also when you hear what rules and regulations are being thrust upon you. Unfortunately, when my wife went to register, they forget to mention the canvas bag rule and we didn't even know about it until two days before school started, after Alex's backpack was packed and ready for his first day.

Apparently between the time that my daughter Rachel was in 4th grade two years ago, and now, a rule was put into place forbidding the 4th graders from carrying backpacks. Say what? That's right. For one special year instead of having a backpack to store all their stuff in, the 4th graders have been relegated to a canvas bag that can be no larger that 14” X 14”.

So of course I had to ask why, if for no other reason than to hear what the company line was going to be. The response? The 4th grade teachers decided that there was not enough room in the classrooms for the students and their backpacks and since the teachers don't get paid to teach backpacks they were sacrificed to the 4th grade gods.

Maybe there is some sort of bad voodoo akin to the spore problems they are experiencing at La Rosa. Maybe it is some ground dwelling mold that is causing the classrooms to shrink, because just two years ago the classrooms were big enough. So it only stands to reason if they are no longer big enough they must be shrinking.

The school, in their ongoing efforts to help the parents and students out, are selling bright green canvas bags that have Cloverly School printed on the side with an ever so cutesy graphic of a bear cub on it as well. You know that any change of environment is difficult and even more so when you are young and in grade school. The 4th graders are already at a disadvantage being the youngest at the school and are trying desperately to blend in, and now are forced to carry around a bag like that. Even if you choose not to buy their bag, with the size restrictions imposed, you would be easily identified as a 4th grader no matter what color it is. Why not just pin a sign on their backs that says, “kick me.”

But as soon as they hit 5th grade back come the backpacks. I guess the mold hasn't affected those classrooms with shrinkage yet. So it is just one year that this little torture will last. Just one year of having my son have no place to put his jacket after school, one year of him having to put his lunch box on the ground instead of in his backpack during his after-school program. One year of him attempting to cram his Wednesday folder into this bag that is approximately the same size as a plastic grocery bag that already has a full size binder in it. I can't wait until the day he has to carry in a project. He just won't have enough hands.

I asked my daughter where she kept her backpack when she was in 4th grade. She told me “the same place we keep it now, either next to or under our desks.” I find that amazing because with the amount of books that she is forced to bring back and forth to school in her backpack it expands to the size of the average suitcase. How can it possible fit under a desk?

She really wanted to have a backpack that didn't have wheels on it this year (I guess it's a 6th grade thing) so we got her one. After she received all her books and packed her new backpack, watching her attempt to put it on was painful for me, and I suggested she go back to her old wheeled backpack. She was determined to use the new one even though I knew if she did, she would collapse like a deck of cards. Out of curiosity, I actually weighed it, 22 pounds that beast weighed in at. I couldn't watch anymore. The very next day when I picked her up from school I was relieved to hear the words “Daddy, could you please get down my old backpack?” You bet.

So let's rethink the 4th grader situation for a minute. If within two years you are planning to load the students up with over 20 pounds of books, you are doing them a major disservice by not allowing them to stay used to carrying a backpack now just to increase the size of the aisles in the classroom.

That is unless, of course, there is a reason they are not telling us about, like maybe this is actually a decontamination period so they don't transfer any mold spores over from La Rosa in their backpacks.